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Recently I was studying the use of から and だから as conjunctions. Could anyone explain why one is used in these examples while the other is not?
Are there rules as to whether から and だから can follow a phrase or a clause?
I am pretty clear as to why から and だから are used in the first two examples, but in the last three, in examples 1 and 2 I am confused as to why the answers provided to me are the correct ones. I understand the second example.

これは僕のお気に入りだから、気をつけて使って下さいね。
It's my favorite, so please be careful.

私は、日本語を学んですでに4年になるが、自分の日本語の不十分さから、日常生活で面白い失敗を起こすことは珍しくない。
It has been four years since I began learning the Japanese language, but since my Japanese is not proficient, it's not unusual for me to make some rather interesting mistakes in using Japanese in my daily life.

1 Answer
1

2 can't be 寒くなっただから because 寒くなっただ is nonsense; you don't put だ after verbs.

1 can't be 寒いだから for the same reason -- い-adjectives don't take だ. They take です, as a politeness marker, but not だ.

3 can't be 寒さから because now から is following a noun instead of a clause or sentence (which だ would have completed). When から follows a noun, it instead means "from" (cf. が the subject particle / が meaning "but").

thanks. could you explain why 自分の日本語の不十分さから works but not 例年以上の寒さから? my friend told me if i change the particles in the first ex. here then it would work: 「自分の日本語は不十分だから』
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yadokariDec 12 '11 at 21:08

That's a sense of から meaning "from", but I can see how it could be confused with the other "because" から that follows a clause. 自分の不十分さから失敗を起こす = Cause mistakes [from/out of] my own inadequacies. See sense 9 here. (Your friend rewords it to actually mean "because".)
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HyperwormDec 12 '11 at 21:24

@fefe Shoot :| Linguistic terminology side of Japanese gets me again... I guess I'll just edit that part out >_<; As for から, I can't see how "from/out of" would work in that sentence in the question. Someone else will have to give a conclusive answer, I've hit my limit. ^^;
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HyperwormDec 13 '11 at 1:44

1

also couldnt one say 例年以上の寒さから身体に気を付けて下さい as this in english?= please be sure to take care of yourself from the unusual cold. ( I was told that the jp is incorrect but idk the reason why)
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yadokariDec 13 '11 at 4:19